Would you let anyone separate you from your entire family? In Garth Stein’s novel, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Enzo the family dog tells his story of living with the Swift family. His story begins when Denny Swift picks him out of a group of puppies from a farm and ends with a goodbye to Denny. The two grew together, from Denny’s wife Eve dying of cancer, his daughter Zoe’s custody battle with his in-laws, and other criminal charges he faced. You learn to love the opposable thumb obsessed, stuffed zebra hating, race watching dog. Seeing the other characters from Enzo’s innocent point of view, you get to see people’s true colors. In the novel, you begin to see how positive and negative characters affect the story, especially when characteristics of each are within one character. …show more content…
Being overbearing and controlling doesn’t even begin to describe this character. He doesn’t hide the fact that he dislikes Denny and does not deem him worthy of his daughter or granddaughter’s time. “You’re not welcome here,” Maxwell said again. “Leave, or I’ll call the police.” Maxwell called the police on Denny so that he could not attend his own wife’s funeral, just to spite him. “Zoe is just a child,” Maxwell continued. “This is valuable time--the only time she has to spend with Eve. I can’t imagine--I can’t believe for a second--that you would possibly object.” Maxwell never misses an opportunity to present the fact that Eve was dying in Denny’s face. He is a negative character that uses his money to get whatever he